Politics this week

Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, announced that he would head the United Russia ticket in December's general election and hinted that he might then become prime minister. That seemed a neat answer to his desire to remain in power after he has to step down as president at the end of his second term of office in March 2008. See article

Ukraine's election produced an inconclusive result. But a strong performance by Yulia Tymoshenko's party seemed likely to lead to her returning as prime minister of a new orange coalition, like the one she briefly led in 2005. See article

The Italian government agreed a budget for 2008 that slashes corporate taxes but leaves public spending largely untouched. Nevertheless the finance ministry predicted a lower budget deficit, thanks mainly to higher revenues from people who had previously not paid taxes. See article

The king of Spain, Juan Carlos, defended the monarchy as a pillar of Spain's democratic constitution. Recently nationalists in Catalonia had been questioning the king's value.

Giving quarter

Figures submitted to America's Federal Elections Commission showed that in the third quarter of the year Hillary Clinton overtook her nearest rival, Barack Obama, after falling behind him in fund-raising efforts in the first six months. A Washington Post poll showed her ahead of him by 33 points in the race for the Democratic nomination. See article

President George Bush vetoed a proposal, passed by both chambers of Congress, to expand funding for children's health insurance by $35 billion a year. The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, accused him of wielding a “cruel veto pen” and promised a “vigorous fight” but the Democrats lack the votes to overturn him. See article

The American army lost fewer troops in Iraq in September than it has for more than a year. Only 42 died in combat, and another 21 died from non-hostile causes. Attacks on civilians were down too. See article

The administration also hailed some success in the war on drugs in America. Cocaine prices were said to have doubled, after a crack-down on smuggling.

Stemming the saffron tide

The junta ruling Myanmar was the butt of criticism from most of the world after its bloody suppression of nearly two weeks of pro-democracy protests led by monks. It reported that ten people had died. Diplomats put the toll many times higher. Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations' special envoy, visited the country and met both the junta's leaders and Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained opposition leader, in an effort to restart a dialogue. See article

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Kim Jong Il, North Korea's dictator, met South Korea's president, Roh Moo-hyun, for the second-ever inter-Korean summit. The two men agreed to seek a formal end to the civil war of the 1950s. Meanwhile, Chinese officials reported that North Korea has agreed to disable its main nuclear reactor and give full details of its nuclear programme by the end of the year. See article

In Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf proceeded with plans to have himself re-elected for another term as president. Many opposition members resigned in protest, arguing that he should not be re-elected while still head of the army, and that general elections should be held before the presidential vote. General Musharraf has appointed the country's head of intelligence to replace him as army chief, a job he has said he will give up before being sworn in next month. See article

Fourteen people have been arrested in connection with a bombing in Male, capital of the Maldives, which injured 12 tourists. The Maldives has seen political unrest in recent years in protest at the 29-year rule of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. This is the first bombing on the islands.

More than 40 people, mostly local soldiers and policemen, were killed in two suicide-bombings in the Afghan capital, Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

Trade winds

Eighteen months after negotiations were concluded, the White House sent a bill to Congress to ratify a free-trade agreement with Peru. The agreement now incorporates stiffer provisions on labour rights and the environment, inserted at the insistence of the Democrats. See article

In Costa Rica tens of thousands demonstrated against ratification of a free-trade agreement with the United States ahead of a referendum on the issue on October 7th.

Supporters and allies of Ecuador's socialist president, Rafael Correa, appeared to have gained a clear majority in an election for a Constituent Assembly. Mr Correa said he plans to dissolve the country's Congress, dominated by his opponents. See article

Let's solve it, some time

Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, agreed to start formal negotiations on Palestinian statehood after an American-sponsored conference expected next month. But Mr Olmert said no to Mr Abbas's demand for a timetable for agreeing on borders, including Jerusalem's, and dealing with the future of the Palestinian refugees.

France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, urged the European Union to take the lead by tightening and widening financial sanctions against Iran because, he said, the world could not bank on UN pressure to stop Iran making a nuclear bomb. See article

AFP

An African Union contingent of mainly Nigerian peacekeepers was attacked by unknown assailants (perhaps a splinter group of one of the three main rebel factions) in the embattled western Sudanese province of Darfur, leaving at least ten dead. The incident may hobble peace talks in Libya later this month.

Meanwhile, tension rose between the Sudanese government in Khartoum and former rebels in the south of the country, where a separate peace deal was signed two years ago.

A rescue got under way after more than 3,000 miners were trapped underground in South Africa.

Fighting broke out over territory between Somaliland, the de facto independent northern bit of Somalia, and Puntland, a semi-autonomous entity in the north-east. The southern part of the country remained as edgy as before. See article